CommunityNext was a last minute decision for me. I was going to be in San Diego for FASTForward, and Will was going to head to Palo Alto anyway to go, so I thought it would be a good idea.

I will start off with the bad: The first few speakers in the morning seemed to be terrible. I am not sure what happened, but they just seemed unprepared and unwilling to put forward much effort. I was really feeling bad for Noah Kagan at this time because I think a few people even left and wrote off the rest of the day.

Having a day on my hands, I stuck around., and I was glad I did.

Things got exponentially better from there. By mid afternoon, with one exception, things were great. The SkinnyCorp guys were awesome, and the Dogster crew also entertained while imparting wisdom.

The day ended with a panel, which was moderated by Guy Kawasaki, and it was hilarious and useful. Drew Curtis and James Hong competed for the title of “funniest guys on a panel” with the others chiming in when possible.

Would I go to CommunityNext again? The answer is yes, but only for one reason: Having had a chance to meet Noah Kagan, the organizer, you can tell he’s not the kind of guy that will let the same mistakes happen again. So yes, I’ll be there next year, expecting great things.

Coolest person I got to meet: Lee Lefever,Â who, if you don’t watch him closely enough, will steal the food right off your plate!